Which to use
“figue” and “five” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,844
- “figue” frequency rank
- #15,146
- “five” frequency rank
- 51990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figue | five |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faux-fruit comestible du figuier, issu de l’inflorescence contenant des akènes qui sont les fruits proprement dits, contenus dans une pulpe molle et sucrée. | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 5. |
Where the eye mixes figue and five
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses figue with five
A purely visual mix-up. figue (\fiɡ\) and five (\ˈfai̯f\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
figue is recorded at frequency rank #36,844, classified as anoun, pronounced \fiɡ\. five is at rank #15,146, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈfai̯f\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 51990, this pair ranks #150,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of figue vs five
Shared letters: efi. Private to "figue": gu. Private to "five": v.
"figue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "five" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "figue" and "five" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "figue" vs "five" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "figue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "five" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figue" and "five" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figées vs figue". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #150,962 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.